


On the Road

by Sitrus



Series: Dragon age stuff [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Anders needs to chill, Could Be Canon, Gen, Sickfic, Unedited shit, because when do I NOT romance him lmao, he's a rogue, oh look for once I wrote the PC as a non-mage, or rather just look after himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 20:20:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17331695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sitrus/pseuds/Sitrus
Summary: Anders' own health hasn't been a priority of his in a long time. Sometimes he might even neglect it when he really shouldn't.





	On the Road

“That was a close one”, Hawke said as he extended his hand to Anders, who lay on the ground. They were on the road returning from Sundermount and had ran into a group of highwaymen. In the heat of the battle Anders had managed to trip over something Hawke suspected to be his own legs and one of the highwaymen had taken the opportunity to try and take him down. Hawke had acted fast and now the attacker lay on the ground almost on top of Anders, one of Hawke’s arrows in his back and his sword clean of Anders’ blood.

Anders took the offered hand and let Hawke pull him up. He looked a little shaken as he eyed the man who had almost thrust a blade into him.

“Thank you”, Anders thanked him a little awkwardly. His voice was hoarse, which Hawke knew wasn’t just due to the shock of the moment; Hawke had listened to the small, suppressed coughs and the growing roughness of his voice for the past two days. They had known each other for long enough for Hawke to know Anders wasn’t going to bring the others’ attention to his own ailment unless he absolutely had to yet Hawke had still hoped Anders would bring his developing illness up himself. Clearly he had been a fool.

“Hhtsch!! Hrssho!!”

Hawke had kneeled down beside the highwayman’s corpse to check what he carried so he only heard Anders sneeze. He didn’t need to see it happen though nor did he need to see what happened next to know the inconvenience they brought with them. The second one especially had sounded wet and Anders kept sniffling beside him continuously.

“Need a handkerchief?” Hawke asked.

“Do you have one?”

“I now do.” Hawke pulled a surprisingly fine piece of clothing out the highwayman’s pocket. It was neatly folded and looked clean, and Hawke held it out for Anders.

“Such generosity… I don’t even know what to say”, Anders said. Despite the sarcasm he took the handkerchief without much hesitation. He gave his nose a lengthy blow the force of which made him cough.

“’Thank you’ would be a good start”, Hawke said. He finished searching the corpse and stood up, taking a closer look at Anders. Even now he seemed a little unsteady on his feet, swaying just enough for Hawke to notice it. He looked tired and feverish.

“You need rest”, Hawke stated. If Anders wasn’t going to bring up the issue someone else had to. Pretending everything was fine was clearly getting dangerous.

“I’m fine, Hawke”, Anders protested but he couldn’t keep the illness from being audible, twisting every sound he made into a manifestation of how not-fine he was. “We are a day’s walk away from Kirkwall. If I need rest I can get it once we are back.”

“If you really think I’m willing to risk you injuring yourself or worse the fever you are obviously running is meddling with your brain more than I thought. You’ll catch your death if you don’t take it easy.”

“Camping out here isn’t a good option either.” Aveline said as she reached the two men. “We are expecting a storm to hit this area soon and the rain and winds are likely to follow us all the way to the city if we get caught in it.”

Of course Hawke knew this, too. He’d heard the warnings just as well as she had and he wasn’t one to question this specific source of information. The storm might bring winds strong enough to making camping in tents impossible and staying there exposed to the rain was far from ideal.

“I’m not suggesting we should try and wait for him to get better. Camp here for the night, load him up with potions in the morning and walk as far as we can. I’m sure we’ll be able to get at least half way there.”

Hawke and Aveline took some time to discuss their changed plans with Fenris, who had also returned to the group by then, staying mostly silent. He had a few words to say, some of them surprisingly nice and helpful considering how badly he and Anders got along. Hawke tended to avoid taking both him and Anders with him on his missions but this time he had needed the muscle power Aveline and Fenris could provide, and Anders’ healing was better than the alternatives.

By the time they had made a plan everyone mostly agreed on Anders wasn’t standing with them anymore. Hawke looked over his shoulder to see him sitting on a nearby rock, resting his head on his hands. He didn’t look up when Hawke approached him.

“Are you all right?”

Anders nodded but didn’t speak. He took a deep breath, then another, and swiped his hands over his face.

“Just needed to sit down for a moment”, he finally said. He picked up his staff from the ground where he’d put it, shifting on the rock to get ready to stand up. “What’s the plan?”

“There’s a good camping site a little down the road and then to the right. It’s not too far off the road but it’s also not too exposed. We’ll camp there this night and see in the morning what we’ll do.”

Anders nodded again and stood up, leaning lightly on his staff as he did so. He looked a little like the exhaustion from the past days of travelling had hit him all at once, or maybe it was just the post-adrenaline rush tiredness that had kicked in. In any case he at least wasn’t protesting their change of plans anymore.


End file.
